ShigarakiShimura Short Stories
by RavenSara84
Summary: A selection of short stories starring the handyman himself Tomura Shigaraki, and the alternative version of him Tenko Shimura - this version is clearly a AU. Izuku Midoriya and Kurogiri also feature in certain stories.
1. Believe in Yourself Midoriya

"Tch, if you don't believe in yourself then who will?"

The green haired hero-in-training never thought he would hear those words coming out of those cracked lips, and yet he did. In his surprise he remained silent, unable to think of anything to say which caused the older teen to glare at him which was enough to reconnect his brain to his mouth.

"Ah, I guess you're right. I should believe in myself more and have more faith in this quirk of mine but... it's hard. Everything that I am working towards could just tumble down on top of me if am not careful..."

Tomura Shigaraki had given out one simple piece of advice, if you could actually call it that, was Izuku Midoriya's enemy and leader of the League of Villains, he was also the most dangerous man out there, aside from All for One of course.

Yet here they were, all alone in an underground cavern, not even fighting each other. They were actually working together to get themselves out of the damn place. Though Izuku kept showing his enemy how unsure he was about his quirk, even of his own skills in general and it was pissing the villain off as he heard the teen mumble about the situation they were in and his quirk.

"Stop. _It_ ," He said with finality that the green haired teen just looked at him wide eyed. "You are putting too much pressure on yourself and there is no reason for it,"

What Izuku didn't know was that Tomura did the same thing, putting more pressure onto himself than he needed to, but he had grown out of it, becoming a far more capable leader without any advice, yet that was how he was able to learn, although if that was truly an effective way of doing things was unsure.

"Huh?"

"Right now you and I aren't enemies, currently we have a common goal, to get the hell out of here. Now neither of our allies know where we are, so they are of no use to us, however we both have our own skills and quirks that can help." He looked around them and notice the small stream of water. "Like that, we could follow this stream, it would need to have an exit out of here right?"

As he said that, Izuku looked unsure. "But we might have to dive into the water, and I don't know about you but am not exactly the best swimmer,"

The red eyes villain barely restrained himself from reaching out and grabbing the boy with all five fingers. " _Think_ Midoriya, our quirks can get us out, this is going to give us a hint of where to go," as much as he would love to kill the boy, after all the enemy would be dead, there would no longer be any One for All to worry about, yet he was aware that he needed him alive, there were things that his quirk could do that his wasn't able to, plus the boy kept him somewhat grounded, if Tomura was ever fully grounded to begin with.

It was clearly the words that Izuku needed to hear as he nodded. "Ah, that makes sense, all right, lead the way," he was still cautious of him, knowing how quick Tomura was, even if he didn't have a speed quirk, though he kept jumping every time the older teen turned around which cause the villain to look at him with complete disdain.

"You need to stop that, it's so tempting to actually just kill you now," he said drily and Izuku felt a bead of sweat trickle down his neck, though he was certain the man wouldn't, as he had said, they needed to work together to get out of this place.


	2. Civilian Tenko Shimura

He took a deep breath, glancing over at the teen who for _some_ reason was still around him even though their passions were so vastly _different_. Why was the teen still around _him_ of all people?

The green haired teen next to him wanted to be a _hero_ , even though he didn't _appear_ to have a quirk – and Tenko knew full well that he _didn't_ have a quirk, but Tenko's own uncle; whose hero name was All Might and coincidentally was the teenager's favorite hero; had let it slip a few times when he was over for dinner or lunch with Tenko, about the training the teen was undergoing, and although Tenko himself wasn't part of the hero business, he could add something like that up and get the answer pretty easily -however now Izuku did and for better or worse, depending on how you looked at it, the teenager was going to go through with his dream.

Being a _hero_.

Tenko Shimura knew that being a hero was a _hard_ job, how could he not when he had been raised by Gran Torino, who had warned him of all types of different heroes, villains and incidents that could kill him. As well as helping him work on his quirk to defend himself should it come to it, although that wasn't what Tenko wanted from his life, but he appreciated the sentiment though and at least he could defend himself if no heroes were around to save him or others, and of course if there was little chance that he would hurt any bystanders by doing so.

The old man had meant well, he had thought that the boy would follow in his grandmother's footsteps and be a hero like her, but he had no ambition for that kind of thing.

No, he was too full of anxiety and far too nervous to even consider such a thing. The mere thought of fighting someone was enough to make him be drenched in a cold sweat. He was fine with never being a hero, and he had worried too much about Gran Torino when he went out on patrol when he was younger and although later he had learned exactly what the older man did, courtesy of a babysitter who never realized that the young Tenko knew little about what Gran Torino was doing outside those walls. In fact the old man had been very devious in keeping the hero work separate from his ability to raise a child, who had been messed up in the head due to a neglected and rather tragic start at life.

Tenko could look back on that time of his life, when he learnt the truth, and although he had been pissed off at the old man, enraged even, letting his quirk destroy many chairs, pillows and a coffee table which had scared the babysitter to such an extreme that the old man had to hire a student from UA to look after him, but as an adult Tenko understood and respected the man for being able to balance out his life, to do what he enjoyed doing and yet still take care of the grandson of his old friend.

Then Gran Torino retired, claiming that the younger generation could take up the hard work, there was more of them now after all. Although Tenko was _fairly_ certain that the old man never really retired, he had a theory that he just took a large step back from the spot light.

And then of course there was All Might, his 'uncle' of sorts and who was the main concern/worry that Tenko had in his mind, particularly after that nasty fight with what the public thought was Toxic Chainsaw… or as he knew it All for One, the man who had attempted to kidnap him. Twice.

The second time had been the reason how All Might was badly injured. Tenko shuddered at the memory, he had almost been taken away from the only people who cared about him by the villain, who had very nearly won and then something happened. He wasn't sure what, but All Might pushed through the pain, ignoring the fact that his insides were slowly becoming part of the outside and just viciously attacked All for One once Tenko had managed to break free of the chains that he had been imprisoned in with his quirk. The memory was horrible, the nightmares were _worse_ and Tenko had refused to leave All Might's side while he was in hospital, although he had been coaxed away to have a shower and get dressed in clean clothes by the nurses, but he barely ate or slept in that time, which had a few of the nurses fussing over him at the same time as they were checking in on All Might's stats every few hours.

He shivered as he remembered _that_ man, that _villain_. He had seemed so charming, and worse still was that part of him thought that he would have gone with him, however he had been raised by a hero; Gran Torino taught him well, _everything_ the man was saying, even if the words were laced with charm and friendliness, there was still something off about him. The vibe around him just didn't feel right and he sent a quick message to All Might and Gran Torino before he was caught off guard and chained up, almost forced to join the villain.

He pushed those thoughts away, after all they were in the past now… although the nightmares still came every so often, particularly if he was feeling down about himself, or his lot in life, or even envious regarding Izuku being able to focus totally on his goal of being a hero.

Yet in regard to All for One, both he and Gran Torino warned All Might that his heir had to know the truth, because All for One was the biggest bad out there, the worst of the worst, a villain that couldn't be compared to any other because in a sense, he was the first villain. For Izuku to remain ignorant of that fact? It was foolish.

Yet both remained silent about it, although Tenko found it hard, considering when he had nightmares and wanted to talk to his friend about it, he couldn't. He couldn't even speak to the two men who raised him about it, because they were heroes and from what he understood, they had a different way of coping with these kinds of things.

Yet here he was hanging out with the young would-be hero on his day off, just sitting in the park and relaxing after having some lunch that Izuku's mother had made for them.

"You know, your quirk would be brilliant for rescue work." Izuku commented suddenly which caused Tenko to look at him in confusion.

"What?" he blinked at him, wondering how that cropped up, although he needn't have wondered that. He had a rough idea of how Izuku's brain worked, it was how he impressed All Might and how he got through UA while still learning to control One for All.

"Your quirk, because it decay's things it would be really handy for people who are trapped or stuck under rubble." He elaborated rather simply, and the older man nodded slowly in understanding before frowning.

"Er, not really." He started and noticed the confused look on his younger friend's face. "I met up with Thirteen and we spoke about it. Not that I thought about being a hero!" He added though Izuku just smiled at him, understanding that they probably got onto the topic because Tenko accidently decayed something in front of Thirteen and it opened the conversation. "But, they said that while my quirk would be handy to free people from difficult situations, trapped tunnels and stuff, on injured people stuck under rubble?" He spotted how Izuku's eyes lit up, probably because he had been talking about Thirteen's advice in regard to his own quirk, and Izuku was a fan boy of _all_ heroes, it was just that his main favorite out of all of them was All Might. "My quirk would make their injuries worse, they might get infected faster because of me. So, no I wouldn't really make that great a rescue hero."

Tenko had told Izuku a few times that he enjoyed what he did, true he wasn't a hero and it wasn't exactly glamorous, no one would praise him for it, but it kept him away from people and his job did affect people, it just wasn't that obvious. Besides it paid the bills and kept him fed, what more could he ask for really? It had also been helpful when his uncle had Izuku train down at the illegal dumping ground at the beach, it meant that he could easily decay all the rubbish without having to take it all back to the yard.

"Oh." Izuku looked downcast when he realized that situation was very likely to happen, and how had he not thought of it himself? "I never thought about that. I suppose that is a point…" he began to mumble to himself and pull out his notebook, one that Tenko spotted was called Civilian's, though it was confusing, why would the boy have a note book regarding people who couldn't legally use their quirk the same way as heroes could?

He smiled at the boy who was mumbling, it had unnerved him to begin with, causing him to scratch at his neck viciously as he tried to find certain words to break Izuku's concentration from mumbling to himself. Now though he realized that this helped Izuku think and focus his thoughts in regards to other people's quirks and how he had so badly missed the mark with Tenko's own quirk.

"Izuku, I don't _need_ to be a hero." He told him, and the green haired teen looked over at him in surprise, stopping his constant mumbling and note taking. "I mean think about it, there are so many people out in the world who had amazing quirks but aren't heroes. Take your mother for example." He decided to bring Inko Midoriya into the conversation, not because he hoped it would give Izuku a wakeup call with his schedule of punishing training, but because Inko was a woman whose company he actively enjoyed and he liked hearing about her job, even if at times it made him feel rather anxious, he didn't fully understand how she could do such a job, yet that just made him respect her even more. " _She's_ a hero, she raised you after all."

Izuku blushed at that. "Yea… yea she did, and by herself too."

Tenko didn't understand why Inko's husband wouldn't be around, or indeed come around to visit his family, but he never asked, he _couldn't_ ask, not when she was laughing and smiling when she told him a story regarding her son, or something silly that had happened at work.

"I'll be honest, I'm envious of you. I'd love to have a mother like her." He admitted and then realized what he had actually said out loud and blushed. "I mean…"

"Yea, I know, she's pretty great. I know she misses your chats, she was wondering why you haven't been round for a while." Izuku commented and Tenko felt himself become flustered.

"I… I…" He tried to focus, this was something that he knew would come up in conversation, and yet no matter how many times he tried to prepare for it, he clearly failed.

"Tenko? It's okay, she's just was wondering if you'd like to visit on your next day off."

He let out a breath and nodded. "Yea, I would like that. Um, tell her thanks for lunch too, I appreciate it." His blush began to calm down now once he realized that Izuku wasn't annoyed at him, nor thought he was trying to say something more than wishing that he had a caring nurturing mother. Maybe if he had that as well as Gran Torino he wouldn't be as anxious as he was now. Maybe.

"Sure. You know you can talk to either of us about anything right?" He reminded him, and the older teen nodded solemnly.

"I know… I had better get going, don't want the old man to worry about me." He pulled Izuku into a quick hug, something that he didn't commonly do, but considering the conversation they just had, he felt that perhaps the younger teen needed it, overlooking the fact that somewhere in his mind was screaming at him that he needed this kind of contact more, that he needed this basic reassurance that he wasn't worthless and he was important in some way.

That his avoidance of Inko Midoryia wasn't just due to him fearing that he was being humored by the woman because he was a lonely young man, a man who was just a civilian with a quirk that could easily kill someone if he wasn't careful with his hands.

The only person who knew about his insecurity in that regard was the old man, Gran Torino, who had told him that he was an idiot. It wasn't the most helpful of advice, yet he kept coming back to it and realizing that, he was right.

As he walked home he realized that with Izuku asking him to visit his mother, and Gran Torino calling him an idiot, it all clicked to place. Inko liked having him around to talk, she didn't look like she spoke to many people aside from the parents of Izuku's friends and Tenko really didn't have a link to her son apart from All Might and even then, it was pretty clear that he wasn't a big hero fan. She had been able to speak to him about her fears regarding Izuku's training, and although she was pleased with her son's vision of being a hero coming to light, she was afraid what that might mean. He tried to assure her that her fears, while well founded, weren't something to worry about all the time, after all the worst he'd seen Gran Torino come back home from patrol was scratches. Granted All Might was another level, but from what he understood and had seen for himself, Izuku would need more time to reach those levels.

He sighed as he came into his home and heading to his room, realizing that he was selfish for keeping away from the woman who seemed to listen to him and his rather boring life, even if she didn't completely understand what he was talking about.

Reaching for his phone, he sent Inko a quick message, letting her know that he appreciates the food he made himself and Izuku and that he would be free to see her later on in the week if she was okay with that.

Lying down on the bed he had to remind himself that he needed to work on his friendships, he couldn't expect other people to do the work for him, or indeed for them to be mind-readers. He had to put the effort into it and looking at the message he received back from the woman, a smile appeared on his face, knowing that he had at least one civilian friend who would understand the frustration of being around heroes who were heedless to the worry they placed on their loved ones.


	3. Defenceless

It was odd, how it all happened, Tomura hadn't meant to get involved with it. Hell, he should have just ignored it and just walked on... yet he didn't, he couldn't. It was a minor offense, he was aware of that, these were kids just being bullies, and yet they got that from the adults, from the so-called heroes of this damn city.

The very thought of those heroes being regarded as do-gooders made him want to punch something or cry, or maybe both, he hadn't made up his mind just yet.

Regardless he saw this poor quirkless kid, if what the bullies were saying was true, being ganged up upon by those with quirks stronger and _deadlier_ than anyone could imagine young children would do upon another of their peers. He wondered what exactly had been going on in their parents' minds, or if their parents were even aware that this was going on, did they all lie about it? Yet the quirkless boy had injuries that would surely make them realized that their children had caused all of this.

He had to do _something_ , this kid was quirkless, he didn't deserve any of this.

Taking a step over towards the fight, he reaches out to touch the rock one of them was about to throw at the defenseless boy, causing the other bullies to look at him, but his face was obscured by his hair and his hood was up. The blonde-haired boy tried to pull it away from him, but Tomura simply placed all five fingers on it, causing the stone to turn to dust and making the bullies jump away from him in fright.

"Who the hell are you?" The loud one, the one with the vicious temper demanded from him.

He grinned manically as he took a step closer to them, which caused them to back away wearily. "Someone you shouldn't be messing with."

"Tch, well you sure ain't a hero."

"Damn right am not." Tomura hit back and glanced at the young green haired boy, who was watching this all unfold before his eyes, he looked unaware, as though surprised that someone was _actually_ helping him; "I don't need to have the title of _hero_ to do what's right." His blood red eyes looked at them carefully, knowing full well that they would try to be heroes when they were older, and most likely the heroes would take them on, but that simply gave his side more of a cause for this kind of injustice, yet there was also a chance that he could persuade them to come to his side. Maybe. Although would he want such people on his side? "But I will be keeping an eye on you lot, you might be interesting later on." He was still grinning at them, yet kept quiet as to the reason why he'd keep an eye on them, they didn't need to know that he was considering scouting them for his own cause.

The leader of the gang just growled but indicated to his group that they were retreating. "Your new _savior_ won't always be around to protect you Deku!"

The green haired boy flinched, causing the bullies to laugh as they walked away, but Tomura stayed where he was, he didn't trust them to fully retreat, not with the boy injured as he was and once they were out of sight he glanced over at the boy. "Where do you live?"

"Huh?" he looked up at him, wiping away the tears that had fallen down his face, he was unsure as to what was going on, _someone_ was helping him.

"I'm going to walk you home." He informed him easily enough, it wasn't something he'd normally do. In fact this was something he would _never_ do this. After all he was a _villain_ , but the boy reminded him of some other child that he knew, though he couldn't remember _who_ or _why_ , but the memory was there somewhere. It was just hidden away, but he would find it, he would figure it out.

The young boy slowly stood up, wincing at his injuries before looking up at him once again and actually noticing what _he_ looked like, tired eyes, scarred and dry skin. "I'm... I... thank you for your help but... they are always like that."

"I gathered that. Bullies will always be bullies. Tch, come on, let's get you home." Tomura was fully aware that the boy was watching him, glancing up at him every so often as the young boy lead the way back to his home, yet he didn't care. Right now, he was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with him.

Why did he decide to come to the aid of a quirkless no body? The boy wasn't special, if he was killed... well so be it. Many people died from things and no one could save them. Or maybe that was why, after all if All for One hadn't saved him, he would have been dead, right?

Then it _clicked_ , who the boy reminded him of someone, it had been _him_. As he thought it over, why shouldn't he go out of his way to help kids who had been in a similar situation as he had been in? Surely the boy hadn't seen the death of his own father, but no one was coming to his _aid_ when he needed it.

But that shouldn't be how a villain's mind worked, he should be _pleased_ with the death rates, it showed that the heroes weren't doing their job effectively, but... a villain was one thing, this was another. This felt _personal_. Who was to say a villain couldn't help someone out when they desperately needed it? Didn't society define who was labeled a villain? So couldn't he change that label that defined him, even if society considered that a fitting label for him. But what label would he consider for himself? As he thought about it, he still consider himself a villain, it was what he was raised for, but for a moment, he wanted to help others who were unable to be rescued... and maybe they would end up joining his own cause.

"You got a name?"

"Um... Izuku Midoriya sir."

"Don't come to me with all that false _politeness._ Tomura Shigaraki." he heard a gasp and glanced over at the younger boy who began to shaking as he looked up at him with fear in his eyes; "You've heard of me?" he was startled at that, he wasn't sure how well spread his name was, but he didn't think children would know of him. Surely his parents would have kept that kind of information away from a young child?

"Heard of you? You... you're almost as famous as the hero killer!" He commented with unabashed glee, and Tomura barely suppressed a groan of annoyance.

Stain was the bane of his life. The one _stain_ in his villainous records. The man who wanted to kill _fake_ heroes, which was fine, but in doing so he caused cities to become _safer_ , less corrupt, and thankfully he had been stopped.

Tomura barely suppressed a grin when he thought of it, when his five fingers carelessly touching the foolish hero killers' bare skin, with the man forgetting about Tmoura's quirk until it was too late, then the man was no more. Of course, no one outside of the League of Villains were aware that he was dead, they thought he had been stopped somewhere out with the country or that he had stopped all the corrupt heroes, which was laughable as far as he was concerned, nothing would have stopped Stain except death.

"Maybe one day I'll be _infamous_." He commented off-handedly, though he doubted it, and, he really didn't want to be as famous as the hero killer, it led to too much trouble, and he could do without that type of trouble really.

"Why did you help me though? Am quirkless," Midoriya asked quietly as they continued to walk onwards.

Tomura looked over at him once more, spotting something rather interesting. Midoriya had been injured, he'd had scraps, bruises and he was almost certain he'd had a black eye, yet now? All of it was practically gone. "Are you though?"

"Well yea, the doctor..." he almost began to ramble on regarding the when his hopes for having a quirk, for being a _hero_ , were dashed away.

"Told you so? What proof did he have for it?" Tomura interrupted with a scoff, he didn't believe that someone would be able to tell that a child would have a quirk or not, but then again, he didn't know the science behind it. Or that there was any, of course he never really looked into it that wasn't what interested him after all, but something was clearly off about this boy and him being quirkless.

"Well the bones in your foot would indicate it." Midoriya began to tell him and Tomura shrugged it off. As far as he was concerned the boy next to him clearly had a quirk, but everyone just assumed that he didn't.

"You have a quirk kid, it's just not as obvious."

"Really? How do you know?" Midoriya sounded so _desperate_ , as if he wasn't a valid person unless he had a quirk, as though he wasn't important enough to be regarded as a person unless he had a quirk.

"Because you are healing in front of me." Tomura had no idea how no one was aware of this, were people blind? Did they assume that the kid was simply a quick healer and had nothing to do with his quirk because _one_ doctor had said the boy couldn't have one due to bone in his foot?

Midoriya blinked and then smiled; "So am not useless?"

"Am sure there is more to your quirk than you realize." He said with a shrug and followed the happier Midoriya to the apartment complex.

The villain found himself reminded of his own childhood as he looked around the buildings, when he had a family, people who _cared_ for him and yet they were all dead now. All thanks to a useless hero who couldn't stop himself from destroying a building to use as leverage against a villain. Instead he ended up killing the villain and a lot of other innocent lives that were lost that day because he was unable to hold himself back, to _wait_ for backup to arrive. He had tried to save his father and yet it didn't work, all he had left was the man's severed hand. _That_ was all that was left of Tomura's innocence, his childhood and his belief that heroes would always be there to save the day and save people.

"Why are you a villain though? Surely you wanted to be a hero?" The boy asked as they walked up to the block of apartments, he was livelier now, more interested in talking to him instead of feeling sad regarding how his friends treated him. Now that he had been told that he _did_ have a quirk, he wasn't useless, he might actually have a chance to be a hero!

"Not all heroes are good guys, and not all villains are bad one's either. You need to know what you want out of this life, what alliance you want to join and if you could live with yourself when you join them." Was all he said as he left Midoriya and headed home himself. He'd had enough, the memories were becoming too much, his past was becoming too much.

Izuku Midoriya wasn't too much younger than himself, maybe a few years age difference, regardless he decided that perhaps he should keep an eye on him too, after all he might get into more trouble later, or he might be willing to join Tomura later on, when he learned more about the heroic society.

Tomura hoped the boy would learn more about his quirk, and then maybe he would join him and his League. They needed a healer after all.


	4. Kill the Boy

_Kill the boy._

He heard his Master's voice in his head, although he wasn't sure why since his Master didn't have that type of quirk. In fact, Tomura wasn't sure if anyone had the quirk, at least there was none that he'd found nor on record. Regardless, that wasn't what interested him right now, no right now he was going to deal with the quivering child in front of him, one of the most annoying students from UA, Izuku Midoriya the protégé of All Might.

He reached out to touch him, all five fingers were ready to kill him and yet when Tomura finally did touch him, he just left his middle finger off.

 _Kill the boy Tomura Shigaraki, it is the right thing to do._

He frowned at the green haired boy, the one who was training so hard to be a hero like that blasted _All Might._ He knew that if he killed him then the protégé that All Might was coveting would be destroyed and finally he would be able to win and reclaim what should never have been taken away to begin with! Although he doubted he could reclaim it, how did one reclaim their own childhood? How did one reclaim the life of a murdered father?

"You know, you got lucky Izuku Midoriya." He rasped, and those green eyes looked up at him, wide and disbelieving. "I was _meant_ to kill you. Those were the orders from my Master and yet... am not going to." He took a step back while the boy still looked up at him with those damn eyes.

"Wh... What? Why?" He slowly stood up and took a step away from the man, weary and unsure if this was some kind of trap.

"Heh, because I don't think you are to blame for this. In time you will be, but right now? Well, maybe you can change the future from the _inside_ and show the heroes that they can't save everyone and that villains will be a result of that, it's going to happen regardless of how hard they try to avoid it. This world is _imperfect_ , surely the results that Stain got was enough proof for you?"

"I still don't understand, what are you working towards Shigaraki?!" It was a demand, he wanted answers and yet Shigaraki could only grin.

"It's so hard to answer to a cinnamon bun." He cackled while Midoriya just look more ill at ease. "Although perhaps you should tell me your _hero_ name, it might save you some time, and it might save your _mother_ some pain." The threat was clear there, and yet something still didn't add up.

"What..." Midoriya felt the blood drain out of his face, fear trickled down his spine.

"Idiot, hero names are to keep your _family_ safe, so that villains like myself won't go after them, because they are your weakness." He rolled his eyes at the boy who looked defensive, yet still pale and clearly shaken with what the man had just said.

"You won't..." Midoriya had no idea what he could do if Shigaraki did decide to go after his mother, what would stop him from simply killing her?

"No. My goal isn't to attack someone who isn't a hero, although if she does get in my way then who can say what my actions will be?" He grinned manically behind the hand of Father. "As of right now, we will start afresh. I don't know you and you don't know me. Understood?"

"But..."

"Unless you want me to use your mother as leverage?"

"You leave her alone! I'm Deku." He glared at the villain, knowing he wouldn't forget this interaction the next time they fight and being completely aware that Shigaraki was up to something, he had the upper hand and just...gave it away?

"Well Deku, we are done here. The heroes are closing in." He turned to walk away and paused to look over his shoulder. "Remember this Deku, I decided to be _nice_ and let you go." He disappeared, a warp gate having appeared to take him away and left the would-be hero alone with his thoughts.

He was unable to believe that a maniac like Tomura Shigaraki would do such a thing like letting him leave, not when he was a hero, not when he was clearly close to All Might.

 _So why, why Shigaraki? You gained nothing from this._ Izuku thought to himself as the heroes came to help him, though he was uninjured.

At the same time Tomura Shigaraki was walking into the bar, sitting down on one of the bar stools and thought over what had happened today with a grin on his face.

 _If I'm right, that kid will be confused, uncertain. Killing him would have simply resulted in more heroes hunting us down more aggressively than they are right now. But this way? I might be able to break him in and get him to work for me... he just wouldn't be aware of it until it was too late._

Kurogiri put a drink down in front of him yet refrained from asking too many questions in regard to his afternoon activities, that was left for All for One to do later, who would most likely berate Tomura for his foolishness, yet although Tomura owed much to All for One, he would go through with his plan, once explaining it fully. After all, Izuku Midoriya, or Deku as he should call him now, wanted to protect those who couldn't, yet he also would do anything to protect the woman who raised him. If his mother's life was on the line, what would Deku do?

Shigaraki was certain he knew the answer, he just needed that extra bit of support, because if Deku was on their side? All Might would be through. Once that happened, well Deku would no longer be of any importance to him, he and his mother could both die. He never put too much thought into the end game, that would be for later.


	5. The Party

Shimura Tenko wasn't an easy man to work with, live with or even simply being around him, and his life was a testament to that fact, but if he had something to state that he was good at? He would have to say that it was his anxiety. He got anxious over so many things, things that didn't really matter and yet he obsessed with it, he just couldn't leave things be and just get over it, he just over thought it all and it was so close to overtaking his life if he wasn't careful.

It didn't help the fact that his quirk was decay, so he couldn't touch people properly, at least not without special gloves, or in his case being completely aware of what he was holding and how he was holding it. He'd been able to do that for years... after the death of his father by his own hands. His therapist connected the dots, the death of a loved one due to his quirk coming on would be the reason for his anxiety. It wasn't simply that he was an anxious person, but that his anxiety was brought on by his quirk, which meant that he needed to have some kind of control in his life, and without that control he was a – in his own words - a mess.

He knew that, although he still took his meds and visited the therapist, the anxiety was still there, he just needed to figure out how to deal with it better than he was right now. Because he was certain scratching his neck was not the best way to do things or bite his lips. Although Grand Torino had a habit of hitting him with his walking stick every time he bites his lip, though he never noticed when Tenko scratched his neck, the man was sly about that.

Yet here he was, at a small gathering in UA for All Might, the Symbol of Peace and his unofficial guardian, he was able to come in to this hall filled with pro hero's, teachers and everything that made him feel so nervous that he just wanted to leave and never return.

He didn't.

Tenko would _never_ disrespect the man who helped him so much, the man who indirectly saved him from being fostered out to an uncaring family – he'd heard horror stories of children who were fostered and had unusual quirks that couldn't be handled easily and how they were simply cash-cows.

Regardless of trying to fit in, he _wasn't_ a social butterfly, so he tended to stay by the walls, watching people chat, earwigging in and just hoping that soon he would be able to leave without everyone being able to tell that he just wanted to run away.

"That's how I feel about all this. Although I suppose you have a different reason to me." A tired male voice spoke to him and he jumped, turning to face an unkept and scruffy, dark hair man with a long scarf around his neck.

"I... um..." he shook his head, trying to calm his racing heart before he replied to the man. "I just don't like large social gatherings. I'm... fine that people want to praise All Might, I _get_ it..."

"But you wish you didn't have to be here." He finished the words that likely would have never left Tenko's lips.

"That's not..." he trailed off, he realized who he was talking to though, this wasn't just a teacher, this was _Eraserhead_. "Yea, yea that's it. I don't do well around other's."

"How's that?"

And that was when Tenko Shimura found himself opening up about his past to a man that he knew so little about, apart from his quirk, the clue when he was using it and being a teacher at UA. He spoke about his childhood, he never held back really and Eraserhead barely interrupted him, just asking relevant questions when it was appropriate and just listened to him.

There were no questions about his feelings or asking him to return to that moment and think of what he would do now, it was just acceptance of what he was hearing. He noticed the man tensed up, when he spoke about the death of his father due to his quirk, being found by Grand Torino and how All Might had managed to get the older hero to foster him. Then there was how his anxiety became worse as time went on and he got older, because Grand Torino didn't know how to deal with that kind of stuff, instead he had him go to the doctor, who sent him to the therapist, who sent him to another therapist until they found one that fitted his needs and that he himself could trust. He spoke about everything that scared him, as well as the time that All Might had even approached him to the subject of him possibly being a hero one day when he was barely a teenager, which caused him to laugh at the large hero. Even now, he found that topic in relation to him rather hilarious.

"I heard it often from my own classmates when they learn what my quirk is, always after asking why I held things in an _odd_ way. Then when they learned my quirk is decay, they called me a villain." He smiled bitterly not looking at the man, but instead focusing his gaze onto the floor. "Besides with all the I have anxiety, I wouldn't be able to be a hero anyway, too much mental damage to be effective on the battle scenes."

"You think so?" Was the first question the other man had asked throughout it all, it had simply been Tenko talking, for a lot longer than he had ever really spoke before, at least to a total stranger.

"Of course. You need to have a clear head, and mine _never_ remains clear, always thinking about what ifs."

Eraserhead remained silent once more as he continued to talk, watching quietly as he started to cry about his own inability to even keep a basic civilian job and then suddenly he just stopped, looking at this stranger and backing away from him slowly, rubbing the palms of his hands on his eyes.

"Sorry, you don't need this... I think... I think I have been here long enough. It's... it was nice to meet you." He bowed awkwardly before running off, quickly speaking to All Might, who smiled at him and nodded before he left the hall without another glance behind him, leaving Eraserhead alone with his own thoughts.

 _Red shoes. Like that kid I teach, Midoriya._ He thought with a frown, thinking how his student was also a nervous creature and yet, he had something more in him to give, it was clearly a product of how you were brought up, given what the pastel blue haired man had told him, his childhood had been rough. So, what could he do for him? He had opened up to him and let everything out, would he just ignore him and pretend it never happened? Or should he... _Only live once after all._ He moved towards the old hero who was sitting down next to the head teacher, who had left him alone as the other hero came up to them.

"Gran Torino." He nodded at the old man who smiled up at him.

"Ah Eraserhead. I see that you were keeping Tenko company for a while, he doesn't tend to stick around other people for too long,"

"He's an interesting man, but he left a bit too quickly for me to get his number." He stated blandly, as if he did this all the time.

He didn't. It was irregular and unusual, but the man troubled wasn't going to leave his mind any time soon, and he wanted to know more about him. He spotted the sly look on Torino's face, the old man was fully aware that his intentions weren't exactly pure, but that wasn't a problem, he respected the older hero, a hell of a lot more than the man of the hour All Might.

Yet Tenko respected both of them. Because they both saved him, even though it had caused him great difficulty because he wasn't able to deal with everything that had happened in the past. Could Aizawa deal with that? The man wasn't broken, but he was in pieces, could he have anything salvageable about him? Would he be able to deal with someone who was so broken that his life felt like a shipwreck?

"You know, what Tenko really needs is someone to be his friend." The older hero said softly, much to his surprise. "He opened up to you pretty easily there, not even his therapists managed that. At least from what he had told me. If you want to be a rock for him, be prepared, what he's told you isn't even the start of it all."

"Meaning?"

"That's the basic spiel. But there is more to it than that. His childhood before myself and All Might, his life afterwards. He's a lot of hard work, you should know that, but he's _trying_. If you think you can handle him and be a good friend to him, then send him a message. If not... stay away from him."

The warning was firm, he felt it. Gran Torino was smaller than him, yet the threat was there, and it was real. Aizawa couldn't fuck this up, and if he did, he'd have a retired hero on his ass.

"Understood."


	6. Hero Shimura Tenko

When he finally got to wear his hero costume out in the real world was a day that he had thought would never actually come. He had been put into Thirteen's group of rescue heroes, his quirk appeared to be better suited to that side of heroic work that anything else, although it had been up for debate many times in the teachers' lounge, not that he was aware of that of course. He was grateful that Thirteen agreed to have him on their team, particularly after his performance he had made during the last exam. They were understanding about it, and more than happy to remind him that he had to watch his temper and his quirk, both were lethal, but one of them was permanent.

He found himself joined by another student, although he didn't recognize him as the dark mist walked over to him, wearing a metal neck brace of some kind that he assumed was to keep his body in the same place.

"Ah you would be Tenko Shimura, correct?" The man gestured towards him as they began to slowly move into the ruin down buildings to help people escape from the nearby fight that was going on.

Shimura nodded, but didn't ask for his name in return, his very presence was known to many who took notice of students who were unique, instead he focused on what they were trying to do. "I can get people out easily enough, I know this area." He wished he didn't know this area at all, but at the same time it might very well be beneficial to them. "But if they are trapped in a room, your quirk might be better suited to it."

"Indeed. But I shall need your assistance to settle them down... children tend to be rather alarmed at my appearance," he commented with a gesture to his misty form.

Shimura could relate, although he had never actually deal with kids in a professional setting before, so how would that work out? "Ah, you got a name?" he decided to ask, it wouldn't do for him to suddenly blurt out the other student's name without coming across as a bit of a creep, even if they were both graduating soon.

"Kurogiri," Was all he said before they headed into the building, Shimura easily taking down the large stone boulders that blocked their way and made a path to find the people that were still in the building.

The pair worked quickly and efficiently, most of the time Kurogiri was warping people to the local hospital until he was told to take the injured to another hospital down the road. Tenko was trying his best to not go back down the road of childhood memories, to focus on saving the kids and parents who were stuck in this collapsing building.

He spotted a small group of children hiding in the corner, huddled together and he knew this was would harder than the rest, they were scared, as they should be really, but they didn't know if he was a good guy or not. After all, Tenko wasn't a hero who had his office debut yet.

A young child had tears in their eyes, and he couldn't tell what gender they were, but as he gingerly came over to them they scurried back, which in turn sent the other children huddled together moving further away from the other child.

"This... this was my fault..." the child said pitifully and looked at him with tears in their eyes. "My quirk came today,"

"This wasn't your fault, there is no way your new quirk would cause all this," Tenko assured them, slowly going towards them and pausing when they reached out and touched a rock that was near them, it crumbled beneath their touch and for a brief moment it felt like Tenko was looking at himself, minus the scars, the blood and the lone hand that had been on the floor.

"My mother..." they turned to the wall they were near, a hand raised to touch the bricks, but they held themselves back. "She pushed us out of the room when everything started to fall." They began to sob and curled up into a small ball.

Tenko looked at him, knowing that he had to get the children out of here first, just in case something bad had happened. He heard the warp gate open. "Kurogiri?"

The young child whimpered, it was a good enough clue for Tenko to turn around quickly to face a blonde-haired woman, who for some reason was dressed in a school uniform and with a knife in her hand, a manic grin spread across her face when she had his full attention. She moved quickly, managing to cut him but he was able to reach out, his fingers were bare and he grabbed her knife hand with all five fingers, decaying it on contact.

She screamed and kicked him, throwing herself back towards the open space, cursing him out and he spotted the injured Kurogiri, blood dripping from the dark mist.

"How..."

"She was at the hospital, as I tried to leave she latched onto me..." Kurogiri didn't sound to good, but clearly was going to try and stay with Tenko for this mission.

The man looked at the two and then at the kids before his attention went back to Kurogiri. "I need to get this kids mother out." He looked over at the injured woman who was still glaring at him, spitting curses like she wasn't going to stop. "You sit tight," He was aware she wouldn't do anything more, after all the next time she attacked he might very well take her life. Although he knew he wouldn't, if she attacked him he would be able to fight back without having to use his quirk, if he was lucky he would be able to knock her out, but she didn't need to know that.

He decayed the wall and spotted the woman, the mother of the sobbing child, who appeared to have a large slab of rocks that had crushed her leg most likely beyond all repair, yet Recovery Girl would need to check it out first. He moved closer to the woman and heard her quiet cries while he tried to assess the situation regarding using his own quirk on the rocks that were holding her down.

She gasped when she saw him and roughly wiped her eyes. "Are you... are you with the rescue heroes? Is she... she she safe? Is my daughter safe?"

He smiled slightly, assured that this woman loved her child, her child would be well cared for and protected, she wouldn't need to go through the mindfield that he had gone through.

"You have to get out of here, if she's safe that's all that matters. Please go and help her, I don't want her to be hurt."

"I can't leave you here, that's not what heroes do," Tenko told her, crouching down and touching the rock that had crushed her leg, there was no other option, the vibrations that were coming through the buildings were a clear sign that the fight was returning this way, they had to retreat, and he _refused_ to leave her there.

"Please,"

He moved to pick her up carefully, after putting a tourniquet on her leg and brought her out to where Kurogiri and the children were, as well as the other injured woman.

He looked over at Kurogiri, holding the woman carefully as he passed her over to the other man. "Get them all to the hospital,"

"What are you going to do?" Kurogiri looked over at the injured villain before them, the small group of children were already at the hospital, the daughter had been stubborn and refused to leave until she saw her mother.

"I need to speak to this woman." He smiled at Kurogiri, one that was full of assurance that he would be fine, and he would get as much information out of her as possible. "Besides she's scared of me now, might as well make the most of it." He told him in a lower tone, assured that the villain wouldn't hear him.

Kurogiri simply nodded at him, understanding the matter was out of his hands, Shimura had done what he was meant to do, now it was his turn to take these people back to the hospital.

The woman made her move, attempting to attack him while his back was turned as the warp quirk user disappeared. She was unaware that the wound that he had gotten during their first scuffle had already healed over, a perk of being the grandson of a famous hero, he happened to have more quirks than most people were aware of, and this one was always handy, given that it let him heal and with no one aware of it he used it to his advantage during fights.

He managed to push her roughly away, with her hitting her back against the brick work and she gasped in pain before looking at him with hate clearly gleaming in her eyes; "This isn't very heroic of you." Shimura laughed as he looked at her with an almost manic smile, one that wouldn't have looked too out of place on a villain. "I know how your quirk works, all I need to do is destroy one of your fingers and poof! No more quirk." She sounded full of glee, even though she was bleeding and wobbly on her feet.

He moved towards her, letting her know that he would fight, and although she tried to weakly defend herself, she passed out after he took another step towards her.

Tenko let out a sigh of relief, he wasn't sure how long he would be able to fight the woman, the battle was coming back towards them quickly, as he stooped down to pick her up, trying to figure out how he would be able to get to safety with a villain in his arms when the building shuddered. The fight was getting too close to comfort and he moved quickly to get out.

He was fully aware that Thirteen wouldn't be pleased with him, he didn't stay with Kurogiri at all like they were meant to, and he had found himself in a fight against a villain, but so long as the people in the section he was given were out of harm's way, did that matter?

 _Shimura are you there? What happened?_ Thirteen radio called him, aware that he had been silent for far too long.

He winced, not thinking he'd have to deal with this so soon, but he took a deep breath. "Sorry, I had a run in with a villain..."

 _Why didn't you call for backup?_

"Because she came through the warp gate. She was at the hospital when Kurogiri was coming back. You know I wouldn't have fought her if it wasn't for the fact there were civilian's around that could get hurt, and they were kids." He defended himself, though he knew that if the tables were reversed Thirteen would have done the exact same thing, the main difference was that Thirteen had far more experience, officially, than he did.

 _I'll speak with you later. Kurogiri will get you to the hospital, we'll have someone ready to take the villain away._

He sighed as the warp gate opened and he went in, only to come out in the children's section of the hospital and he looked over at Kurogiri, who had a bandage around his arm.

"Am sorry for her." The man said in gesture to the woman who was over Shimura's shoulder as a police officer came over to them and he placed her on top the floor, looking at the man.

"You think you guy's can deal with her?" Tenko asked them.

"Of course they can," Thirteen said sharply as the officer picked the woman up and left without a word. "However I need to know what exactly _were_ you doing? Why did you free a woman who clearly needed more assistance than either of you could provide?"

"The building was unsteady already, the fight was coming back towards us, and her kid was there, I couldn't just leave her mother behind just because I didn't have enough people to help. And besides I looked at the situation, there was no way her leg was going to be fixed, she was awake, she wanted her daughter to leave and for us to leave her behind, yet... what kind of a hero would we be if we did that? If I was to leave a mother behind and let her daughter be an orphan?"

"You're projecting," Thirteen commented softly.

"No am not. No one was there to save me or father, it was a different situation," He argued, even though a signal in the back of his head was telling him to stop, this was enough, he wasn't a pro just yet.

"Are you certain of that? I don't know of your background Shimura, but I have heard a lot about you through the grapevine."

"I bet you have. Just, believe me in this. I can't be a half-baked hero." He sounded so tired, drained and he _was_. But he had one more thing to do before he could rest for the night, or at least until he had to do some paperwork, so he moved away from them after Thirteen had stopped questioning him and walked towards the nurses' desk.

"What are you doing?" Kurogiri finally spoke and Shimura looked back at the pair of them, while putting his glove back on, it was a good thing that he was so proficient at being able to leave a finger off when holding something, or someone, so he never normally had to wear gloves, but he was always given them during his hero work and he always wore them without complaint.

"I need to speak to the kid we saved, her quirk is similar to my own." He moved to speak to the nurse and she ushered him into the side room where the child was alone, curled up in a corner repeating the same words over and over again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He felt himself being transported back, back to when he was a child, when he had tears rolling down his eyes, his arms outstretched, so scared of himself, of what he had done to his own father. He managed to pull himself out of that depressing memory, looking at the child and crouched down, not too close though. "Hey, do you want to see your mother?"

She looked up at him, her face was a landscape of tear tracks and he really had to try and separate the situation from his past, though it was hard.

He gestured for her to follow him and they left the room, heading to another ward, she kept close to him, though not enough that he could touch her, or her touch him. As they walked onwards he spotted the hero he was after.

"Recovery Girl?" He called over to her and she turned sharply at him.

"I am busy at the moment Shimura, it can surely wait." She was sharp and to the point, he couldn't blame her for that, given all the injuries he had gotten when he was in UA and she had to treat him, even with his handy healing quirk.

"Oh no, I mean, are you dealing with the mother who was brought in? Can she see her if you are done?" Shimura gestured to the young girl by his knee and Recovery Girl softened as she looked at the young girl.

"She'll hate me," The girl whimpered softly as new tears fell down her face.

"She's in that room," Recovery Girl told him quietly gesturing to a room on the far left, leaving him alone to deal with the young girl on his own.

He could curse the older woman for leaving him in this situation, but he also understood why. She had actual patients to deal with, and he was the one who brought this kid here.

"She won't hate you, you're her daughter. She'll... she'll be relieved that you are all right," he assured her and ushered her into the room that her mother was in.

He felt his heart lift as he saw the scene unfold before him, he moved carefully so was not to disturb the moment the mother and daughter were having, as he left his number of the table, as well as send a quick message to Grand Torino, partially for advice but also for him to come down and maybe help the kid out, she would need the moral support and he was certain the kid would melt the old man's heart, even if he tried to deny it.

If the old man had been able to help raise him into being a hero, then maybe this young girl would also have a chance too, and on the plus side she still had a parent to look out for her while the old man helped her out with her quirk. Hopefully he would also be there to help out, maybe he would get to mould the next generation of heroes this way, or at the very least be able to help her to figure out how to not decay her clothing and to keep one finger off at all times.

He might not be an official Pro-Hero yet, but for moments like this? He couldn't wait to become one.


End file.
